As stated in my previous post, I was in Paris in May, without Avi Davidowitz, from the Kosher Wine Unfiltered blog, his lame excuse involved something about marrying off his first child, or something like that, whatever! He was missed but yeah, Mazel Tov!

I kept to my hotel room for much of the trip. All these wines were tasted in my room. Also, as tested before, because of supply chain issues and frankly because there were still too many 2020 wines around, there were very few 2021 wines available for me to buy online or in stores and taste. What I could find, at that time, in May, I bought and I am posting here now.

White & Roses

After tasting roses from Taieb and Royal I had a few more that I found around town. The clear winners here were the 2021 Caves d’Esclans Whispering Angel, Cotes de Provence, and the 2021 Chateau Maime Rose, Collection, Cotes de Provence. The 2020 Koenig Riesling is nice and a good rebound for the winery.

Two red wines from Tek Wines

I was sent a few wines from Tek Wine but the two best wines were ones I bought from MesVinCacher, the 2015 Chateau Tour de Bossuet, and the 2015 Chateau La petite Duchesse. The two wines tasted too similar to be different, but try them yourself. The other wines are simple.

Two Israeli wines

As I stated in my IDS Post, Alexandre was in Paris at the same time as I was and he brought along a nice wine from Israel, the 2021 Peer Winery Ayala, another wine with the name Ayala! Anyway, it was nice enough, with good acidity, but a bit short. The other was the 2021 Recanati Sauvignon Blanc, which is too simple to be interesting.

A Magrez wine that works

The 2019 Chateau Pape Clement is the closest thing we have had to a good Magrez wine since the epic 2014 vintage. The wine is nice but the oak and fruit are overpowering and while I liked it to start after a bit of time it felt a bit flabby and oak-driven.

Various Bordeaux Wines

This group had too many poor wines, the nice surprise was a wine from the Ministers of Wine, the 2018 Chateau des Places, Graves. There was also, a non-mevushal Victor 2019 Chateau Guimberteau Graves de Laborde, Cuvee Prestige, Lalande de Pomerol. The rest, were poor.

One Italian Wine

The Aglianico that I had in paris really did not show well and I hope to taste it again soon, maybe here in the USA. But I have posted it here as a baseline.

Thoughts on this tasting

Overall, none of these wines are available in the USA, other than a couple of the roses. The rest will maybe get to the USA eventually or never. If they do get to the USA, by the time you throw in the extra costs, they will not be QPR WINNER.

The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here and the explanation for QPR scores can be found here:

White Wines

2020 Koenig Riesling, Alsace (M) – Score: 91 (QPR: WINNER)
After the mess that was the Pinot Blanc, I was worried the Riesling would also be oxidized, thankfully, that is not the case! The nose of this wine is what I love in lovely Riesling wines, minerality, fruit, honeysuckle, honeyed yellow fruit, and nice petrol. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is fun, bright, tart, and refreshing, with great intense acidity, gooseberry, honeysuckle, honeydew melon, petrol, funk, tart yellow fruit, and lovely green apple, Nice!!! The finish is long, tart, and refreshing, showing tension, intense minerality, slate, smoke, flint, petrol, crazy acidity, and good fruit focus. Bravo! Drink until 2023. (tasted May 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 12%)

2021 Peer Winery Ayala, Judean hills – Score: 90 (QPR: Even)
The wine is a blend of Chenin Blanc, Roussanne, French Colombard. The nose of this wine is nice, funky, and orange in style, with hay and green apple The mouth of this medium-bodied wine, is a bit short, nice enough with good acidity, green apple, quince, pear, and peach. The finish is a bit short, funky, and tart. Drink now. (tasted May 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 11.5%)

2020 Jean Perrier & Fils Savoie, Cuvee Gastronomie, Savoie – Score: 86 (QPR: EVEN)
I liked the unoaked version better, some may like this version if they are butter and oak fans. To me, it has the minerality, but it is hard to separate this from yet another oak-driven chardonnay wine. To be fair, after a couple of hours the oak overload calmed but there is nothing there, other than tannin and some acidity. The nose of this Savoie wine is good enough, with sweet oak, butter, green apple, peach, and dirt. With time it turns into peach juice with very little else. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is an oak bomb with too much peach and fruity character to bring it all together, it lacks the acidity it needs and is just oak and peach. With time it opens a bit and shows better acidity, but not much else, with tannin and some smoke. At least it is not flat! or an oak bomb if you give it time Move on! Drink now! (tasted May 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 11.5%)

2021 Recanati Sauvignon Blanc, Galilee – Score: 85 (QPR: EVEN)
The nose of this wine is the best part of the wine, with lovely gooseberry, cat pee, and wet grass, lovely! The mouth of this light to medium-bodied wine is where it falls apart, the wine is just boring, it is not flat, it has acidity, but not much else, with lemon, rock, and some gooseberry in the background. Not fun! Drink now. (tasted May 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 12%)

2020 Koenig Pinot Blanc, Alsace (M) – Score: 60 (QPR: N.A)
I wanted to like this wine but sadly, it is an oxidized wine that I cannot like. The cork was fine, this is not a wine I can enjoy. (tasted May 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 12%)

Roses

2021 Caves d’Esclans Whispering Angel, Cotes de Provence – Score: 91 (QPR: WINNER (USA), France (GREAT))
This wine cost me 40 euros in Paris but it sells for less than 30 dollars in the USA! Go figure. That makes it a QPR WINNER in the USA and a GREAT in France. I hear, that Caves d’Esclans made the wine kosher with their Masgiach team, shipped it to the USA with the NK importer, and no extra hands were involved! That is how a kosher rose can cost 10 dollars less (yes the Euro and dollar are essentially dollars for Euro) in the USA than in Paris with more hands involved! Crazy! This wine is the baby brother of the insanely expensive Garrus rose – which is a waste of money for anything other than 2021 (which I do not know if one exists), and even then, I doubt it would be worth the money.
The nose of this wine is nice enough, with clean lines, no overly pithy notes, orange blossom, peach, tart yellow melon, and flint. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is where it starts to show its stuff, very refreshing, with crazy acidity, saline, smoke, flint, peach, gooseberry, tart pink grapefruit, lovely m mouthfeel, and an overall refreshment that is quite nice! With more saline, flint, lemon/lime, rock, and slate, the finish lasts forever. Drink now! (tasted May 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13%)

2021 Chateau Maime Rose, Collection, Cotes de Provence – Score: 91 (QPR: France (WINNER), USA (EVEN))
The nose of this wine is nice with bright fruit, strawberry and crème, lemon, guava, orange blossom, and some minerality. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is nice, it starts with less acidity than it needs, but that changes soon enough, with good acidity, refreshing, with nice fruit, tart fruit, strawberry, lemon, grapefruit, and sweet melon. The finish is long, mineral-driven, not too much pith, and nice flint, mineral, and slate. Drink now. (tasted May 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 12.5%)

2021 Chateau Montaud Rose, Cotes de Provence – Score: 90 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this rose is nice, a bit rustic, but very nice, and a great value, with strawberry, orange blossom, too much pith, and flint. The mouth of this medium-bodied rose is nice, expressive, tart, acidic, and refreshing, but a bit simple and rustic, with nice strawberry, flint, rock, plum, blossom, and a bit too much pith. The finish is long, fruity, tart, pithy, with nice flint. Drink now! (tasted May 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13.5%)

2021 Chateau Maime Rose, Cotes de Provence – Score: 88 (QPR: France (EVEN), USA (BAD))
This is the higher-end wine of the kosher wines made at Chateau Maime but it is less interesting than the Collection wine. The nose of this wine is nice with creamy strawberry, less tropical than the Collection, with orange blossom, gooseberry, lemon/lime, and nice minerality. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is less interesting than the Collection, with too much pith, not as elegant, and uni-dimensional, with pith, some strawberry, less refreshing, and some minerality. The finish is long, but the pith gets out of hand and all I get is pith and orange. Drink now. (tasted May 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 12.5%)

2021 La Citadelle de Diamant Mademoiselle Fanny Rose, Var, IGP (M) – Score: 86 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is the best part of the wine with notes of orange blossom, smoke, flint, strawberry and creme, and peach. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is OK, it lacks the acidity I crave but it is also not without some acidity, with not too much pith, but also very uniform, with strawberry, cherry, peach, and flint. The finish is long but a bit unidimensional, with orange notes, and some flint. Drink now. (tasted May 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13.5%)

2021 Chateau Gairoird Rose, Cotes de Provence – Score: 90 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is classic strawberry and crème with orange blossom, citrus, and minerality. The mouth of this medium-bodied rose is nice with more strawberry, good acidity, flint, orange, nectarines, pith, and flint. The finish is long, tart, and fruity. Nice! Drink now. (tasted May 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 12.5%)

Red Wines

2019 Chateau Pape Clement Grand Cru Classe de Graves, Pessac-Léognan – Score: 93 (QPR: EVEN)
It is back! The 2019 Pape Clement is back, this wine smells so much like the 2014 vintage, a true joy, but after tasting it, the wine is nice but not as good as the 2014 vintage.
The nose of this wine shows lovely balance, dark and ripe red and blue fruit, notes of smoke, loam, mushroom, fresh earth, chamomile, intense minerality, graphite, and lovely forest floor notes.
The mouth on this full-bodied wine is rich and layered, extracted and ripe with rich mineral, and lovely elegance, all wrapped in a dark and inky structure, with rich forest floor, blackberry, dark raspberry, with insane mouth coating tannin that makes for a rich unctuous wine, showing green notes, loam, scraping mineral, graphite, roasted herb, and menthol – impressive. The only flaw I see is that the oak is overly present and will need time to fade away – even after two days, the oak is very present and somewhat unbalanced with the sweet dill and milk chocolate.
The finish on this wine is long and rich, with green notes, lovely foliage, tobacco, dark chocolate, more scraping mineral, balanced fruit, roasted herbs, mineral, and spice on the long finish – Nice!!! Drink from 2025 until 2035. (tasted May 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13%)

2019 Chateau Guimberteau Graves de Laborde, Cuvee Prestige, Lalande de Pomerol – Score: 91.5 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is ripe with red and black fruit, roasted herb, pencil, graphite, chocolate, green notes, smoke, roasted notes, and sweet dill. The mouth of this full-bodied wine is ripe, with good acidity, nice tannin, elegance, not overly extracted, good fruit focus, blackberry, ripe raspberry, cassis, smoke, charcoal, loam, charcoal, and sweet spices. The green notes throw me here as the wine is balanced but the green notes stick in the mouth and nose. The finish is long, and ripe, with green notes, roasted herbs, some oak, sweet spices, dark chocolate, smoking tobacco, graphite, mint, menthol, and lovely loam. The wine lingers long, with more tannin, fruit, mineral, and sweet spices. The green notes make this less interesting wine, still, it is nice and almost balanced. Drink from 2025 until 2033. (tasted May 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14%)

2015 Chateau Tour de Bossuet, Lalande de Pomerol – Score: 91.5 (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is quite nice, with clear notes of toast, vanilla, red and black fruit, nice green notes, foliage, sweet mint, menthol, roasted herbs, and minerality. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is well balanced, with great acidity, nice tannin structure, good fruit focus, nice savory spices, cloves, raspberry, blackberry, plum, and a good mineral core. The finish is long, green, herbal, toasty, balanced, and fruity, with great lingering tannin, fruit, scraping mineral, graphite, savory spices, and roasted herbs. Bravo! Drink until 2028. (tasted May 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13%)

2015 Chateau La Petite Duchesse, Lalande de Pomerol – Score: 91.5 (QPR: WINNER)
This wine says it is a blend of 80% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc, & 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. However, to me, this wine tastes 100% the same as the 2015 Chateau Tour de Bossuet. Though the blend for the 2015 Chateau Tour de Bossuet is not written on the label, so there you go! Try them yourself and tell me what you think. IMHO, buy either one and you will be happy.
The nose of this wine is quite nice, with clear notes of toast, vanilla, red and black fruit, nice green notes, foliage, sweet mint, menthol, roasted herbs, and minerality. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is well balanced, with great acidity, nice tannin structure, good fruit focus, nice savory spices, cloves, raspberry, blackberry, plum, and a good mineral core. The finish is long, green, herbal, toasty, balanced, and fruity, with great lingering tannin, fruit, scraping mineral, graphite, savory spices, and roasted herbs. Bravo! Drink until 2028. (tasted May 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13%)

2018 Chateau des Places, Graves – Score: 91 (QPR: WINNER)
The nose on this wine is lovely, a bit ripe, but nice with minerality, dirt, smoke, and red and green notes, all balanced by bright fruit and loam. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is quite enjoyable, showing good acidity, and refreshing, with nice tannin, grippy and expressive, dark red fruit, raspberry, plum, dark cherry, hints of boysenberry, loam, dirt, and nice minerality. A fun, dense, extracted wine, NICE! The finish is long, green, smoky, ripe, balanced, and plush in the mouthfeel and finish, with chocolate, nice fruit, graphite, and sweet tobacco. Nice!!! Drink until 2026. (tasted May 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14.5%)

2019 Chateau Guimberteau, Lalande de Pomerol (M) – Score: 86 (QPR: POOR)
The nose of this wine is ripe and green at the same time with black and green notes, loam, mineral notes, and sweet spices. The mouth of this medium to full-bodied wine is ripe and slightly cooked, which is a shame as the wine feels correct, with blackberry, cooked raspberry, cooked fruit, plum, nice tannin, and sweet spices. The finish is long, green, earthy, spicy, with milk chocolate, and more sweet spices. Drink until 2027. (tasted May 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14%)

2019 Roc de Pelinat, Bordeaux Superieur (M) – Score: 85 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is simple, a nice enough quaff, a bit green, but with enough fruit to bring it together, with red and black fruit, smoke, and earth. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is nice, the green notes throw me off but many will like the acidity, gripping tannin, and good fruit, dark plum, raspberry, and green herbs. The finish is long, tannic, green, fruity, and a bit cooked. Drink now! (tasted May 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13.5%)

2016 Chateau Fontaneau, Medoc – Score: 83 (QPR: BAD)
One of those wines, green and tinny, earthy, tannic, and nothing there, ugh – move on! With time it evolves a bit and shows some life but not worth the time. pass (tasted May 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13%)

2020 Comte de Verdon, Medoc (M) – Score: 82 (QPR: POOR)
This wine is not offensive to start – just boring, but after a bit of time, it becomes unbalanced and not fun, so drink this UP if you have it.
The nose of this wine is a bit green, with red fruit, smoke, roasted herbs, menthol, and smoking tobacco. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is a simple quaff, it feels a bit hollow, but mostly from the lack of anything there, with good acidity, nice enough tannin, roasted herb, raspberry, plum, and smoke. The finish is a bit short with more smoke, tannin, roasted herb, and nice acidity. Drink up. (tasted May 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 12.5%)

2019 Chateau Camplay, Bordeaux Superieur (M) – Score: 78 (QPR: N.A.)
Another green, tinny, cooked mevushal Bordeaux Superieur – next! (tasted May 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13.5%)

2020 Chateau Carregades, Medoc – Score: 76 (QPR: N.A.)
The nose of this wine feels a bit off with notes of green herbs, and green tinny notes, followed by candied red fruit, and some more herbs. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is all over the place with more green tinny notes, absurd acidity, and fruit that feels off. Drink now if you must. (tasted May 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 12.5%)

Italian Wine

2020 Casale del ‘700 Aglianico, Aglianico – Score: 79 (QPR: N.A.)
The wine is unbalanced and out of whack and not a wine I would enjoy. The nose of this wine is deeply floral, with red candied fruit, showing ripeness, and a lack of control. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is all over the place, it starts with a shot of plum liqueur, followed by a shot of acidity, and then green notes, herbs, and a lack of focus, concept, or idea of what the wine wants to do. Truly all over the place and unbalanced. The finish is long, acidic, but also ripe, with hints of RS. Overall just not for me. (tasted May 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14.5%)